Conrad Potter Aiken

Nightmare

'Draw three cards, and I will tell your future . . .Draw three cards, and lay them down,Rest your palms upon them, stare at the crystal,And think of time . . . My father was a clown,My mother was a gypsy out of Egypt;And she was gotten with child in a strange way;And I was born in a cold eclipse of the moon,With the future in my eyes as clear as day.'

I sit before the gold-embroidered curtainAnd think her face is like a wrinkled desert.The crystal burns in lamplight beneath my eyes.A dragon slowly coils on the scaly curtain.Upon a scarlet cloth a white skull lies.

'Your hand is on the hand that holds three lilies.You will live long, love many times.I see a dark girl here who once betrayed you.I see a shadow of secret crimes.

'There was a man who came intent to kill you,And hid behind a door and waited for you;There was a woman who smiled at you and lied.There was a golden girl who loved you, begged you,Crawled after you, and died.

'There is a ghost of murder in your blood-Coming or past, I know not which.And here is danger-a woman with sea-green eyes,And white-skinned as a witch . . .'

And suddenly on the wall behind her headI see a monstrous shadow strike and spread,The lamp puffs out, a great blow crashes down.I plunge through the curtain, run through dark to the street,And hear swift steps retreat . . .

The shades are drawn, the door is locked behind me.Behind the door I hear a hammer sounding.I walk in a cloud of wonder; I am glad.I mingle among the crowds; my heart is pounding;You do not guess the adventure I have had! . . .

Yet you, too, all have had your dark adventures,Your sudden adventures, or strange, or sweet . . .My peril goes out from me, is blown among you.We loiter, dreaming together, along the street.